Returning to San Jose, Lofgren worked in Don Edwards' district office, while at the same time earning her law degree. After two years as partner at an immigration law firm in San Jose, she was elected first to a community college board, then to the Santa Clara CountyBoard of Supervisors, where she served for 13 years.[citation needed]

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1994, Lofgren entered the Democratic primary in what was then the 16th District, after Edwards retired after 32 years in Congress. It was the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. A decided underdog, she managed to defeat the favorite, former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery. Lofgren's victory virtually assured her of becoming only the second person to represent the district since its creation in 1963 (it was numbered as the 9th District from 1963 to 1975, as the 10th from 1975 to 1993, the 16th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013). She has been reelected ten times with no substantive opposition.

Earlier photo of Lofgren (2005)

Lofgren is the chair of the 34-member California Democratic Congressional Delegation. She serves on the Judiciary Committee and is the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. In April 2011, she became the first member of Congress to call for federal investigation into the Secure Communities deportation program.[5]

In May, 2016, Lofgren was publicly reprimanded during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after calling a witness an "ignorant bigot." Following the reprimand, Lofgren responded, "I cannot allow that kind of bigotry to go into the record unchallenged.” [9]